


a prophylactic that inhibits contact

by americangothic



Category: The Glass Scientists (Webcomic)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Angst, Gen, Paranoia, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:00:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23801971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/americangothic/pseuds/americangothic
Summary: "Why are you trying to take everything from me?!" Jekyll spat, eyes furious and locked on Hyde's."You deserve to lose it," the other responded. "What? No way to refute that idea?" Hyde leaned in, grinning like a cheshire cat. "It's because you know it's true."
Kudos: 29





	a prophylactic that inhibits contact

**Author's Note:**

> more or less an alternate ending to chapter 8. title is from olivia laing's "the lonely city"

"Let's review," Hyde exclaimed, popping up out of Henry's peripheral vision. Henry groaned, turning one weary eye to face him. "You've managed to turn Lanyon against you because of your massive fuck-up at the party, you snapped and hurt Frankenstein even better than I think I could've, manifestation of all evil that I am, and your last lifeline Rachel probably doesn't trust you because of everything else you've done."

"Sounds about right," Henry murmured. His hand passed over a puddle of drool from whatever monstrosity had his head in its jaws at the moment and landed on a glass of wine.

Hyde curled around his seated reflection in the mirror. "You know, the lodgers have been trying to compromise with you. They've been offering solutions to problems  _ you _ create and you keep turning them away. No wonder they're not doing the Exhibition. No wonder they hate you."

"That's not what's happening," Henry replied.

"No? Then, dear doctor, please enlighten me as to what exactly is happening. Because the way I see it, you're a pathetic excuse for the man you used to be and you're doing nothing about it."

Henry set the wine aside and swiveled in his seat, turning to the mirror. "Really? A pathetic excuse? That may be true, Hyde, but it's certainly not  _ my _ fault I'm this way. You're the evil one. You're the part that was supposed to make my life better, not fuck it up the way you have. Maybe Lanyon was right about you."

Hyde laughed, his breath wheezing until it circled back around into a cough and then something that sounded like a cat dry heaving. "It's your fault I even  _ exist! _ I'm part of you! You're just me with more respectable connections, Jekyll," he exclaimed. "And don't even try to say Lanyon was right about throwing me in jail or what have you. Lanyon wants you out of his life, Jekyll. If advocating for getting rid of the 'personal assistant' you're so fond of is the easiest way to achieve that, he'll do it."

Henry had frozen staring at Hyde. Finally, he blinked and looked away. "What? Robert doesn't want me out of his life. Don't be ridiculous."

Hyde grinned. He'd hit one of Jekyll's core fears, and now he was going to press the matter like a curious child with a bruise. "Oh?" he asked. "He doesn't? Could've fooled me. I mean, I know I'm not the one he talks to, but it's obvious even to an observer that he despises you.

"He  _ resents _ you, Henry. His father stopped giving you funding for your pathetic foundling home and even that wasn't enough to get you to leave him alone. He thinks you're a clingy wretch. He even agrees with Frankenstein about you being a failure of a scientist, a sell-out who's never had a real accomplishment in his life. And you know what? He's _ right _ to think that way. Because it's true, isn't it? You're still grasping onto the companionship of a man you looked up to in university like a child who doesn't understand when to let go of Mother's skirts."

Hyde paused, watching Henry. The taller man's face was downcast and his shoulders were trembling.

"He doesn't care about you. He doesn't understand you. Nobody's ever going to understand you because to do  _ that _ would require caring enough about you in the first place to try and figure you out. You're a horrible little puzzle nobody wants to solve, Jekyll. Why don't you admit it and give up?"

Henry stood up, glaring at the mirror. Hyde grinned back and leaned to the side to get away from one of the eerie blue tentacles currently ghosting over Henry's desk. "That's not true," Henry replied. "Robert cares about me. He understands more about my work than anyone else."

"Your work is disgusting, Jekyll. Nobody is _ ever _ going to understand you the way  _ I _ do," Hyde snarled. Henry turned away from the mirror, shoulders slumping before shooting up ramrod straight. He spun back to face his reflection, and though it was Hyde moving him, the hatred in Henry's eyes was all Jekyll. "Do you hear me? Am I getting through to you, you pathetic waste of an education?"

"Shut  _ up!" _ Henry screamed, slamming his head forward into the mirror. Hyde stopped him before it fractured, letting his forehead come to a halt against the cool silver. Henry yanked his head backwards and bared his teeth at Hyde.

"Why are you trying to take everything from me?!" he spat, eyes furious and locked on Hyde's.

"You deserve to lose it," the other responded. He reached out of the mirror and grabbed Henry's shoulder, digging his nails into the skin. Henry let out a dismayed cry but couldn't move without Hyde tearing at his flesh. "What? No way to refute that? It's because you know it's true."

Henry ripped himself backwards and away from Hyde, letting the other leave holes weeping blood in his shoulder that would inevitably stain the fabric of his shirt. He stumbled until he found his desk, grasping for the half empty bottle of wine he knew he'd left sitting there and gripping it firmly.

"Look out everybody, the good doctor's filling up on fuel. That wine's the only thing that pumps through his veins nowadays anyway! Why else would he drink it anyway, I mean, besides to scrub  _ me _ out of his head. Hey, Jekyll, it doesn't seem to be working very well!" Hyde kept up his running commentary as Henry took a few swigs from the bottle in an attempt to calm himself down.

"Shut up," Henry muttered in response. Hyde did not shut up. 

"If you drink yourself into a stupor and then keep drinking, am I responsible for your body? Your dead one, I mean, because someday you'll die from alcohol poisoning. It's not the death you deserve- probably quite pleasant compared to that one, actually- but it'll be tragic anyway, I'm sure."

"What'll it take for you to leave me alone?" Henry asked, more a desire to stop Hyde's chatter than anything else.

Hyde frowned. "You already know I want to go to the Bazaar." 

"That I do, Edward," Henry said. "That I do." Very carefully, he set the bottle aside, making sure it wouldn't fall over and leak, and then glanced over in the mirror. Closing his eyes, Henry resigned himself to whatever the rest of the night would hold. When they reopened, they were a bright green.

**Author's Note:**

> usually i try to be a normal person but sometimes u just gotta write a ventfic in ur notes app on ur phone. hyde's not meant to be a spooky uninformed allegory for mental illness or whatever i'm just 15 and projecting


End file.
